The cost of construction: four factors why Multifix isn’t the cheapest
The cost of construction isn’t cheap. Project prices are rising and we know that it is currently a difficult market for housebuilders at present. With this in mind, one of the main courses of dialogue we have is around pricing.
Understandably, you want to know that you’re getting value for your hard-earned money. You want to know that the products you’ve bought will be more than good enough to get the job done. Risks can’t be afforded as time is money.
Multifix has always tried to be cost-effective in how we operate, however, we can’t always guarantee that we’re going to be the cheapest option on the market.
That leads to us being asked questions on occasion. You will have seen something somewhere else and understandably want to know why we are charging more.
With that in mind, we thought it would be best to be transparent with you and explain our reasons. We always want to be honest with you and that extends to how we run our business, too.
In this article, we will highlight four factors why we don’t have the lowest prices and explain our reasoning.
1. We utilise our own fleet of vans
To give you the best service, we have our own fleet of vans and our own drivers, who operate from our warehouse in Barking.
It would be cheaper for us to only operate with couriers, but that comes with the risk of missed or late deliveries that result in generally poor service.
As the old saying goes, if you want a job done right, do it yourself. Our van delivery success rate is 99.3% and we simply cannot guarantee that percentage with couriers.
This impacts you because it means that, assuming you are within our geographic reach, you’re almost guaranteed to get your delivery on time. There is minimal risk of delay and 70% of the time, the delivery is with you before 12pm midday.
This means that you can get cracking straight away, without losing time and going a step closer to getting the job done.
Of course, we do use couriers for areas our fleet can’t get to if so required, but the vast majority of our deliveries are done by our internal fleet.
That is one of the reasons why we aren’t the least expensive. In addition to paying our drivers a fair salary while maintaining and supplying our fleet, we’re also always looking to improve.
2. Centralised operations in Barking come with a higher cost of business
We are very fortunate to be in a strategic location here in the southeast for our customers. However, that real estate does have its price tag.
Put bluntly, our overheads for being located where we are in Barking are much higher than they would be for other parts of the country.
However, being where we are is much more sustainable than being in another part of the UK. If we did, we would need to put absolutely everything on couriers, which would be much cheaper but wouldn’t give you the same service.
As we mentioned above, having speedy deliveries that reliably turn up on time is so important. It’s something that we’re happy to pay the cost for, as it makes your lives much easier.
In addition, the environmental side of things is better as we can plot our routes with our sustainable focus in mind.
As a company, we have pledged to be much more sustainable and have already made a lot of changes to try and ensure that we are doing so. You can find out more about that here.
We wouldn’t want to sacrifice our service by being anywhere else, but unfortunately, it is a factor as to why we aren’t super cheap.
3. Multifix only stocks products of very high quality
A crucial factor contributing to overall cost is the actual products themselves. At Multifix, we insist on stocking good products of good quality, as we feel that is the very least you should be operating with.
As such, we don’t go for the super cheap materials because we know they won’t do the job your standards demand. In addition, we also stock a plethora of big-name brands that have been supplying items for decades.
This includes the likes of Paslode, Ancon, Bosch, Protecta and Visqueen, all of whom excel in their respective sectors.
This is perhaps the most straightforward reason for our prices not being the lowest, as we aren’t selling the cheapest products.
That isn’t to say there aren’t bargains to be found, but everything we stock is of proven industry-level quality.
4. Our customer service team is always ready to help
While we do have a 99.3% delivery success rate with our own vans, sometimes things don’t go as planned. Equally, maybe something has come up and you need advice quickly.
In these scenarios, we would much rather you speak to a human being rather than wait for an email response.
As such, we are proud to have a hard-working and knowledgeable customer service team, who are only a phone call away to field your questions.
The option to talk through an issue with a human being isn’t something to be underestimated. We are also currently in the process of getting a live chat ready, as we understand the importance of time.
The quicker the response, the quicker you can get back to your tasks. The best way to give you a quick response is to speak to you in real-time, so that is why we insist on having a dedicated customer service team.
When you have a query or an issue, we don’t want you waiting for an email response or to have bad service. It can disrupt your projects and that’s the last thing we want for you.
Ultimately though, it does come at a cost and that is one of the key factors why we don’t have the lowest prices.
A belief we are the best for the job
Taking everything into consideration, we do believe that we offer fair and competitive pricing. We accept we don’t have the lowest prices, but there is a good reason for that.
Hopefully after reading this article and seeing the four points in question, you’ll be more understanding as to why we charge what we do.
If you would like to discuss our price options in further detail with a member of our expert team, you can find out how to do so here.